Wellbeing and blue-green space in post-pandemic cities: drivers, debates and departures

Covid-19 has focused attention on the importance of urban green and blue spaces (such as parks and watercourses) for human wellbeing. Less attention has been devoted to how those spaces might contribute to a wider rethinking of relations between humans and the more-than-human world in post-pandemic cities. This article outlines how Covid-19 opens up a broader debate about the future of urban green spaces, especially in the global North, but highlights the limitations of this debate. It signposts emerging directions in inquiry, drawing on current concerns in health geographies and the political ecology of health. These include recognition of the agency and worth of the more-than-human world; the need to understand and value wellbeing in terms of relationships between places, nature and people; and the importance of long-term thinking in practical decision-making and planning. These shifts can be grounded in everyday practice by rethinking the role of urban blue-green space, pointing to a research agenda in which ordinary spaces and practices are understood as contributing to assemblages of wellbeing across whole urban areas, rooted in increased connection between humans and the more-than-human world.